Apple iPad 2 Plus Coming This Year

iPad rumors suggestions that Apple intends to release an iPad 2 Plus, essentially a slightly upgraded iPad 2 and new iPad 2 is said to have a higher resolution display (250-300 ppi), an improvement over the iPad 2′s 132-ppi resolution. Pad 2 Plus would be an even smaller upgrade than the iPhone 3GS was to the 3G…………

Analyst Craig Berger with FBR Capital Markets cited contacts in Apple’s overseas supply chain in a note to investors that says Apple could release a so-called iPad 2 Plus later this year. He was told that component makers have received requests-for-quotes from Apple for such a device, though no production schedule has been confirmed. “We hear Apple could migrate the iPad’s display resolution from a current pixel density of 132 (pixels per inch) to 250-300 ppi for the ‘iPad 2 Plus’ (note that the iPhone 4’s screen is 326 ppi),” Berger wrote. But Berger also cautioned that while the information shared is interesting, he would need to hear more information about a new hardware model before fully believing that a new model iPad will debut this year. The latest suggestion of a new model comes less than a week after a report claimed that Apple will launch a so-called iPad 3 this October. But if Berger‘s sources are accurate, that rumored device won’t be a full-fledged third-generation iPad and will instead be an expansion of the iPad product lineup. The launch of an iPad 2 Plus this holiday could diminish production volumes in the fourth quarter of 2011, Berger said, by resulting in screen production constraints at suppliers like LG and Samsung. He said those companies would likely have difficulties ramping up production of such high-resolution screens immediately. “With total iPad builds of 32.5M units during the first three quarters of 2011, targeted annual builds of 40M-45M units again seems not only possible but perhaps even beatable,” he said. “Given the volatility seen in iPad build data of late, we will continue to monitor field checks for any positive or negative revisions.”